Revision of his masterwork

Having completed the first redaction of his masterwork at the end of 1574, still entitled Goffredo, in February 1575 Tasso started revising his text, involving friends and men of letters across Northern Italy, but especially a small group based in Rome, coordinated by Scipione Gonzaga and including Sperone Speroni, Flaminio de’ Nobili, Silvio Antoniano and Pietro Angeli da Barga, also known as il Bargeo. From spring 1575, the corrections took place by means of deliveries between Ferrara and Rome: Tasso would send his cantos, together with explanations concerning his choices, and the revisors would send back notes and criticisms. Frequently, these ended up irritating Tasso, especially those by Speroni and Antoniano. After his initial enthusiasm, and since he was still convinced that his work would soon be approved and printed, Tasso subsequently appeared willing to rewrite some parts of his poem but defended other parts with the help of his Allegoria. He travelled to Rome at the end of 1575, intending to settle the final points of correction. Not only was the trip unsuccessful as regards completion of his epic, but ended up complicating his situation at Ferrara, with increased tensions between himself and the Este Court. Linked to the Roman revision are his Lettere poetiche, in which Tasso replied at length to his revisors, explaining his choices and trying to combine respect for Aristotelian precepts while taking contemporary readers into account. In dissatisfaction, and with the stylistic-linguistic revision still incomplete, Tasso stopped work his corrections after the summer of 1576, without achieving a definitive version. The poem that appeared some years later, entitled Gerusalemme liberata, never received his official approval.